Does pacing strategy effect a female novice rowers performance in a 12 min indoor time trial?

Physiological Limitations to Performance: SPL 203.

Oscar J.D. Sheridan

University of Chichester, Sport & Exercise Science BSc. Chichester, PO19 6PE, United Kingdom. E-mail: osherid1@chi.ac.uk

INTRODUCTION
Exercise induced neuromuscular fatigue is defined as any exercise-induced reduction in force generating capacity(11), and can be attributed to greater decreases in agonist activity(17). For an athlete to overcome this and optimize performance, they must seek to appropriately regulate the distribution of work during an exercise task(8)(9)(10) aiming to maintain physiological homeostasis in an attempt to prevent premature fatigue (18). This distribution of work is termed a pacing strategy(1)(4)(6). Two strategies were chosen to be tested, the constant strategy (CT) and the strong-start, mediummiddle, strong finish strategy (SS), these strategies were chosen because it has been shown that an end spurt occurs when a task is 90% complete irrespective of time or length of given task(19). The performance measure will be distance rowed coupled with efficiency. To test how hard the subject is working, percentage of VO2 MAX will be recorded. VO2 MAX represents the maximal rate of oxygen consumption during exercise testing leading to volitional fatigue(3).VO2 MAX was chosen as a measure over heart rate (HR) as it was suggested that HR lacks the sensitivity to confirm a maximal effort(16). Previous research(12) has looked at pacing in distance rowing over 2000 m (Olympic distance), but not a lot has looked at time trial pacing, due to the rise in indoor rowing competitions across the nation more research is needed into this field.

RESULTS
Table 1. CT vs. SS pacing strategies in a 12 min indoor rowing time trial.

As the subject did not perform noticeably better in either strategy (135 m is 5.7% CT), hopefully assessing their work rate via percentage of VO2 MAX would give an indication of which strategy is more efficient.

Fig 3. Shows the percentage of VO2 MAX subject was working at during a 12 min rowing time trial, using either a CT strategy ( ) or a SS strategy ( ). The CT strategy led to a slightly lower overall effort on behalf of the subject with almost the same distance rowed.

DISCUSSION AIM To compare two different pacing strategies effects on performance outcome in a 12 min time trial row. METHODS
Subjects A healthy, physically active, university student (n = 1 (), age 20 yrs, body mass 78.25 kg height 172 cm) volunteered, with no prior rowing experience. An informed consent form and medical questionnaire were prerequisites for the study.

Local muscle fatigue can be caused by a myriad of factors, including impaired sodium-potassium pump action(15), failure of the sarco-plasmic reticulum to liberate calcium(2), and decreased cycling of cross-bridges(7). All of these are affected by the bodys ability to consume oxygen(14) . So as the subject approached their VO2 MAX and was almost inspiring as much O2 as possible the ability to continue exercise starts to become dependant on the bodies glucose stores as a source of energy rather than the O2 this is limiting factor as there was no monitoring/restriction of food consumption prior to the study. Other potential issues for the reliability of the results could be down to the extremely low study number, the lack of statistical analysis, the fact that each condition was only tested once or even the equipment used, as currently no gas analysis systems on the market can be considered adequately reliable for use in a research setting(5). So to amend these factors future research into this topic should use larger study groups allowing statistical analysis, repeat each condition a minimum of three times, employ a cross-over experimental design to negate the order effect, monitor food 24 hours prior to each test and wait for more reliable equipment to be invented.

Fig 1. Subject during the drive phase of rowing.

Fig 2. Concept2 rowing ergometer.

Fig 2. Servomex gas analyser.

CONCLUSIONS
Neither pacing strategy noticeably affected performance over the other although this could be solely due to poor experimental design.

Protocol A week before testing, the subject completed a VO2 MAX test, consisting of five incremental stages. Each requiring an average power output be maintained (Stage 1: 50 W, Stage 2: 80 W, Stage 3: 110 W, Stage 4: 140 W, Stage 5: All out) on a rowing ergometer (Concept indoor rower, PM3, Cranlea & Co., Bourneville, Birmingham, UK) with the drag factor set to 110. All stages were 4 min long with 30 s rest in between each. Subjects expired gas was collected in 200 L Douglas bags (Cranlea & Co., Bourneville, Birmingham, UK) for respiratory gas analysis, using a Servomex gas analyser (Series 1400, Jarvis Brook, Crowborough, East Sussex, UK) in the last minute of Stages: 1-4, and in every minute of Stage: 5. Mouthpiece and nose clip were applied 30 s before gas collection and removed immediately after. Heart rate (HR) was recorded via a chest applied HR monitor (Non-Downloading, Polar Electro UK Ltd., Warwick, UK.) in the last 15 s of every gas collection minute. This was a modified version of a previous experiment's protocol(13). The subject then completed two 12 min rowing time trials, as it has been found that a minimum exercise duration of 3-5 min is needed to achieve VO2 MAX(3)(16) and this would work out a lot easier for collecting expired gas. They both consisted of four 3 min stages, gas was collected in the last minute of Stages: 1-3 and then every minute in Stage: 4. HR was recorded in the last 15 s of each gas collection minute. The first week the subject followed a CT pacing strategy (Stages 1-3: 80 W, Stage 4: All out) then the week after a SS strategy (Stage 1: 110 W, Stage 2: 50 W, Stage 3: 80 W, Stage 4: All out).

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